Pogey Bait

Once I am cleaned up and have made all crossings restrictions on the SID I let the plane fly it's self. Flying an Airbus (in my opinion) to 10,000 is useless. I agree though while getting dirty again, it's prudent to turn off both the autopilot and autothrust every once and awhile; that way you remember how to fly....well sort of.

Amen. God dern' right red, white, and blue!

Anchuskydrvr

Here at UAL most guys/gals hand fly a lot on the bus, I can’t remember the last time I landed with the auto thrust on(other than auto landing or sim) most folks turn the a/p on climbing through 18k and the a/p and a/t descending back through 18k on 90% on approaches and landings.

ACF

Arturito

I'm glad to read most airlines allow their pilots to choose when and what level of automation they want to use.

mike734

I find most of my FO's hand fly to about 18,000 feet. When asked, they don't have a particular reason why FL180 is some sort of magic altitude, they just seem to think that is an appropriate altitude to, "turn the motion off."

I would argue that down low is the most important time to be on AP. I generally put it on around 1000' and spend more time looking outside. I can fly the AP (737) very smoothly, more smoothly than I can hand fly. Sure, if I really try, I can hand fly smoothly but it's too much effort. Good AP technique takes practice and I believe the AP can be smoother the vast majority of pilots.

hostagetofortun

Back in the old days, auto pilots came in to being simply to keep the passengers coming back to buy another ticket. The dutch roll characteristics of the old stuff used to make them sick. That was about the only reason the airlines wanted them turned on. I think the reason 18,000 ft seems to be the magic number is/was because so much (about what? 90%) of the airspace up to that altitude was uncontrolled and/or simply controlled; but not positive controlled so there was a lot of GA flying all through the space. With our good ole USA see and avoid and all the amount of aircraft in the space it was habit to be right on the stick.
We would of course get in some "trouble" for it today but all the airspace up to 18,000 was known as Indian Country. So you need to be right on positive control. Still need to be as far as I'm concerned.

nimslow

I'm with you on this. At my shop, I can't remember the last time I saw anyone hand fly above 10K, usually not anywhere near there. Anywhere near the terminal area, the automation is usually much better than we are, and why fly straight and level up to 18?

labbats

If it is a Class C or D (or uncontrolled) airport I will turn on the autopilot as soon as I can to help see and avoid.

I almost never hand fly above 10,000 because all aircraft in the USA are required to have transponders above that and the plane flies better than I do. Passengers appreciate that.

dmeg13021

To each their own. If you can't handfly better than the auto pilot, only one way to get better.....

I keep automation on in high workloads or when I'm tired; like to see what George is doing for pitch and power on a late night gusty approach before I take over. But as for guidance, if it ain't RVSM, do what you want. You're a pilot, right?

Dolphinflyer

Totally agree, amazed at a couple of other posts, but not surprised given the weak arse finesse skills that I've witnessed from the right and left seats over 25+ years of legacy flying.

Let's cover one for example, energy management. From what I've seen in the cockpit, I doubt 75% of this group could estimate a point to pull the throttles to idle at FL390 and glide without touching the throttles to a 3K-2K Flap extension point at the destination without emailing Kit Darby for a follow up Hug/Spoon Session on GoGo Internet.

Another mentioned the 737 autopilot. This one has me amazed. From experience, a worthy adversary in flying skills without a brain were the 777/767/757 autopilots. The 737? YGBSM. That piece of east European programmed garbage is less smooth than if I tied 4 kinds of sausages to each side of the yoke and each throttle and had my Yellow Lab attempt to fly it. Seriously dude, congratulations if your intent was a troll job, but other than that, really?

IMHO, the idea is to have the passengers not have a clue to what phase of flight they are in between gear up and gear down. The 737 Autopilot? I think an Aztec AP might be smoother.

tomgoodman

True geezers will remember when the floor of Positive Control Airspace was 18,000 east of Sedalia KS, and somewhat higher west of there, probably because of radar coverage limitations.